Posts Tagged ‘balsamic vinegar’

I tend to fall into the habit of buying boneless chicken breasts, sometimes at a premium, for the convenience of having a quick, easy poultry dish ready in a jiffy. Buying other cuts of chicken, mainly on the bone, is much more economical.

I like the flavor and moistness of chicken thighs much better than breast meat, but seem to find so many more recipes at present that call for the boneless breasts. I really need to “bone” up on removing the breast meat from the bone myself. I have seen it done, but every time I try, I wind up mutilating it. So, until I hone my butcher’s skills, I resort to buying the boneless breasts.

Anyway, here’s a recipe using bone-in chicken breasts. It takes very little time to assemble, and then it’s into the oven for 40-45 minutes while you get the rest of the meal ready. That’s not too bad, especially on the weekend.

By the way, if you’ve ever tried to peel those little pearl onions without ripping the top layers off the onion, you’ll be glad to know you’re not the only one. If I can find it at the grocery, I try to keep a bag of frozen pearl onions on hand. Then, after a quick thaw, they’re recipe ready. I have not seen frozen purple pearl onions, however. If you need those, you probably have to blanch and peel them yourself. Here’s an easy way to do that. Boil the onions for two minutes, then stop the cooking by transferring them to a bowl of ice water. Let cool for a while, then cut off the root end, and pinch the skin off the bulb. You may lose the top layer of the onion. Then you can trim off any long stringy end on the other side.

(I have made this with pork loin and it turned out great. I added some small red potatoes, cut in quarters, to the pan and had the entire dinner in one fell swoop. I did turn the potatoes over once or twice during the cooking. The only additional thing I did was to brown the pork in a skillet before putting it in the roasting pan. To give the sauce even more flavor, I might try sauteeing the onions and peppers after browning the pork, then deglazing the pan with a little broth before adding the other ingredients and pouring over the pork in the baking pan and baking as before.)